soon sean thomas r t okinawa japan. coming up next a write up of the headlines our special report which has from survivors of the battle for leningrad today st petersburg which suffered a brutal nine hundred day siege by nasa troops during world war two of the cost of more than seven hundred thousand lies. all.

dramatic example of the firmness of. courage. and honor. they managed not only to stay alive. but to give their say sins and souls in inhuman circumstances. and hand nine hundred days in besieged linen ran through the eyes of the survivors each. subject has been too they are hangal speech. for the first russian fleet was for. our tea goes to the area which holds top position in the. resources. are the

biggest rush we are processing factories know. where unique species of former can be found. should close up. wealthy british soil it's a spot on. the. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to cause a report on our. thanks for sharing i'll say this i would couple the stories that shaped the week now as

russia's republican also saved him or his office as days so sun which killed seventeen and injured over one hundred sixty local police are accused of negligence and failing to stop the bomb and. that's commemorations miles annoyance one of us three of the nine eleven terrorist a time there were clashes to all the plans for a mosque near ground zero and defacing of the cone. of the tiger pun that safely land a passenger plane in the forests after that communication and the vacation systems failed to mosco from russia's far east. brainstorming for a brighter future minds gather for a global policy forum and get us to discuss a formula for better peace democracy. there's the headlines up next it's a report in which we tell the story of the survivors of the nine hundred day siege

by nasa troops of the city of that in graduating world war two so stay with us. this is no ordinary tram it's a rare sight on the streets of st petersburg historians with a cunning never remembers what it was like writing these trams nearly seventy years ago in nine hundred forty one german troops encircled the city then called leningrad to isolated from the rest of the country the siege lasted for nine hundred days.

leningrad was the country's second most important city off to moscow at the time. nazi leda adolphine notice troops to capture the soviet union's european territories by november nine hundred forty one leningrad was a priority objective in that plan a. million strong german army hundreds of tanks and thousands of backoff were massed against the city. at the same time finnish troops advanced from the notice the nazi advance was halted in september nineteenth. by then enemy troops had already encircled. a massive bombing campaign was unleashed on leningrad in the autumn of nine hundred

forty one. the diet house is one of the first time. the gates of the german asteroids. they housed most of the city's food supplies. all of the warehouses were destroyed. and all their modern facilities here. have smoke because she looked out of the window of her flat. and. at first trees caught fire. and then the flames spread to the wooden buildings. the fact that fire wiped out government supply of sugar reserves. and there's us the most distressing thing with all the city's population idea still a tell girl who would come here along with many other piece together earth and make tea out of into leningrad residence all the destroyed warehouses as

a terrible omen soon after the air raids food in leningrad was worth more than its weight in gold and. was introduced in the city the front line lay just a few hundred meters from makeshift checkpoints people believed they would be able to hold out hoping that help would soon be on its way everyone was trying to survive as best they could. and the sound of a metronome was broadcast through loudspeakers in the streets and it became a symbol of the leningrad siege a fast rhythm and. if it slowed it signaled a retreat. by the first winter leningrad had no heating power to abandon trams stood motionless in the streets the water supply system froze and the pipes inside apartment blocks burst people had to get water from a hole in the nirvanas ice. the air in the water was a big problem let alone to the sixth floor where i lived the staircase was the

slippery because of spilt water. they couldn't make it and had to go that. leningrad residents and anything they could to try and. firewood was very expensive. there were food shortages to residents were issued with rations a fixed. just a fifth of. the citizen was entitled to two lumps of bread a day weighing just one hundred twenty five grams each the bread was made from chemical. and cookies made from wood glue with pine tar oil based paint. and. dressed up

his jacket with his medals and goes to a nearby school. to talk to schoolchildren the same age he was during the siege. of their piece of bread. a few loaves of bread for the children to see exactly what a daily ration look like. bread weighing one hundred twenty five like schoolchildren everywhere. and questions to ask. how did this send letters to the front where were the young children. all the preschool. that did their homes warm the. houses people used furnace. iron stove. they used all the. residence burned furniture. and what yeah. they made the rounds of

basements. to pick up whatever he could find what. three. different people. give them when they didn't. they kept the faith. and he really does change is good i wonder how people could survive on such a tiny piece of. the parents gave it to their kids they could have children. it was just kind of a fascist bomb took the life of my father just me to vengeance death and the destruction of leningrad tempi i swear i will fight the nazis and help our troops at the front to be fed and i will defend our city.

at the time he says if people wanted to survive in the besieged city they had to force themselves to stay. here. instead of lying in bed. because their time lying in bed by drinking a lot of water. they were too weak to. survive cost them their lives. people were dying in increasing numbers. anyway. many people but once they felt the ground. was setting in.

you couldn't. because if you tried to do. somehow you yours out will whittle down the toilet. but life in the city never came to a standstill the composer dmitri shostakovich was putting the finishing touches to his seventh symphony due to be performed at the heavily damaged concert hall of the leningrad for the monic society and. historians or economy ever was in the audience. she recalls that many people defied the bombings and went to the concert hall to listen to the classical music. people were everywhere. but they were in require in the south and they were on the balcony as you know history some people were even the stand in behind this chants those they added that's how badly they wanted to he is now using you that is the symbolized so it

will be one of the first to victory is so won by leningrad to president reagan that at. the symphony was had not only in the concert a radio broadcast carried it to the front line of the leningrad. germans in the trenches had it too. late a german soldiers wrote in that diary that they'd been amazed by the steadfastness of the people of leningrad. please please. please. please please. and i guess that. many of the musicians locust were some months from the fronts for that is their own ends. look at the list of what marcus trunk is full nature of the

show stock which sing with any officer only if you rehearsals is that a. music was in harmony allows a limb would need this and it was even sort of them was like. this route was known as the road of lines and became the only hope for the c.p.p. first colonies of conscience because it's interesting that over making not a good choice of supplies to the city in november one thousand four hundred long. this and subsequent convoys brought sinden to people out. there out of a directed traffic on this vital road. just because that was the starting point of the road rage mitchell let's it all began on november twenty second two that's nine hundred forty one. a monument now stands on the site where the lifeline that saved so many lives began their older but often comes here to pay tribute to those who

died during the tragic war years but that has a broken ring the road of life kept that ring from ever becoming what we used to skew the water from the holes he made by falling shells into order over the tragic is my been nice letter in order to ensure a safe passage for the truck. she says that each time she visits this place she recalls the horror of the first winter spent under siege. and. tense pitched on the ice i was people looking off to the road while enemy troops attempted to cut what was a vital artery. in. the road of life was bombarded several times occasionally the ice cracked sending trucks and that precious cargo to the bottom of the light the i deceived it will mushroom the driver couldn't see the cracks because it was covered with snow the truck and its driver went down beneath the ice. the trucks headlights were shining beneath the water for

a long time after that. in the past year they found. the appropriately named museum. these tires were produced in germany in january of one thousand nine hundred thirty four. can you imagine how old they. are sixty three sixty four years under the waters of lake. the museum. expeditions. he says lifting many of the. takes time i. one of the trucks sank with a load of skis. and skis are scattered within

a radius of one and a half. year we'll pull them from the water and they'll be one of the museum's most valuable exhibits. the road of life remained operational for eighteen months during that time over a million people were evacuated from leningrad huge some four hundred thousand tons of food and other supplies will brought into the besieged city. of motion that when you are good at twenty thousand people work hard these days to move food supplies in the body leningrad might drugs through zero to this and to evaluate children the first since the middle besieged city and i'm going to the country's interior who's admitted that although she's not despite the selfless efforts of those who helped deliver them the food supplies that reach the blockaded city were not enough to meet the needs of all of its residents. meanwhile the nazis persisted with the bombardment of many ground they drop bombs together

it's leaflets saying that in the bombing today you bury the dead tomorrow nobody in the city knew how long the blockade would last. question was that so much i was about to feel and was i think it was a war given really incredible geopolitics a new fall towards we often talk about the emerging markets in terms of economic power now it is being translated into international geo political power. first. yes. in one thousand nine hundred forty three million people called leningrad home

. by the start of nine hundred forty three one in five residents had died of starvation exposure. and. the people of leningrad suffered most during the first winter of the. but even then many continue to work among them of the plant cultivation institute. its offices and seed bank and in the city center since it was impossible to evacuate the institute's vast collection of seeds. scientists to protect the unique collection from faffed and rats. the located the collection was stored in boxes like these. here is a hole right here. on the other side of the same one that. rats may told them them in devour the seeds.

is one of the institutes oldest work has now she and her colleagues tell the real story about the heroism of the scientist on the verge of starvation who never touched one potato seed in the collection. the institute's seed bank is still a national asset. bank values the collection at eight trillion dollars. there was a lot of edible material around we. barley and plays lots of it we . never touched it. starving people. that's why. they never thought they might eat from the seed bank.

russia's largest museum of fine arts was ready for evacuation. crates for exhibits and being brought into this building on the embankment of the at the very start of the. priority was given to paintings and objects from the collection of antiques to wagons with paintings and sculptures was sent to the urals but another wagon was left behind as the city became encircled the museum's valuables was stored in its basements. just empty frames home. empty handed. despite the hardships of the blockade. and science conferences to inspire the people remaining in the city. and. the. museum director. says that quite often participants were brought in

on stretches unable to walk themselves because they were too weak from some of the . poets translators and scientists were brought in from the front it was a formidable task. to people here but if. imagine people coming from the. front line though where the city's fate was being decided that's a whole different story. of a historian and a blockade survivor has vivid memories of those events. in the spring of one nine hundred forty two leningrad has announced the start of a seed sowing season they said leningrad residents would have to supply themselves with food to that end. of land to be used as vegetable gardens as well as providing grain people in the city center were given plots in the main square just outside.

you want us but it's. tough to ask of those units and they've brought in the new but i want to because nothing. that was it would do as it is these greens. where we grew cabbages is it would be slow but it south is a good reminder. of how it used to be. the crop lived up to people's expectations people down to reap the harvest in a call to nine hundred forty two somewhat easing the food problem even in such harsh conditions people never lost hope and help one another to survive during the siege. on the verge of death from starvation when a friend. saved. my d.n.a. a how are you still held on see you i could hardly get here

didn't i get here on foods. sixty. min a for help to survive the. site. using crutches. goodness me they're still touring with this little thing. that it's my truck you know is it can't you walk without using or i tried but driving on. the rope each time they set to this table they talk about how many foot was saved but women recall every single event of the day when nina came to visit only to find that her friend was dying fearful of going in for was too weak to go to the shop to collect her bread russian. roulette is going to put on my coat and filled the boots gotten too good to covered myself with a couple of blankets and was ready to die when suddenly i heard somebody watching

the four door it was lena i know you covered yourself with the small land and when they go away to the cures that is where we are born holding on to chances. only a few weeks later when they found a job but the kid. i most of leningrad industrial plants turned out weapons even during the siege. i. this yes they yell on the bus who says this is where i stood guard with the rifle we patronize the so no one could pass with her as we did. when she started the young man a foe but on the night she stands in one of the factory shops where she used to she says production was never halted journey begins of struggle the plan turned out tanks shells and minds at a rate of three million items

a month people that work for sixteen to twenty hours a day despite the cold and hunger. say shit i slipped in fact to a shop close to the warm boiler. it was like living in barracks little i never went home because of the children bombardment it's just that many were. guus lived at the factory is doing its own little woods. occasionally some of the proceeds city's inhabitants mustered enough strength to go to the theatre after their excruciating work day. and. the musical comedy fear take up performances going to they always play to a full house until a shell hit the building. but it didn't bring the curtain down completely they just moved buildings and carried on. mubarak converted good lord lord.

god you. are worn. out old girl fall ah god are going all. the theatres oldest actress is one hundred years old this year. the same used to be a beautiful girl it's a save these photographs speak naturally you should have seen how beautiful i was. when the phantom was bombed she moved to the front line to a pedophile soviet troops giving more than full files and performances during the little voice was so powerful that sometimes the soldiers even asked her to sing more quietly in case the enemy had to. get the record that one somebody visited this theater to ask me to come to smarten if there was a hospital that anyone didn't sick people there with mind you says the boss no

applause for you then why not i said when you got no hands it was a truly festive occasion in the spring of nine hundred forty two when the electricity was restored in leningrad and trams one small ran along at straights and. that. little. share of friendship dating back to the blockade. of the tragedy by riding in a time tramp. this is the law this is the only tramp over the blockade to. the tram is a symbol of the siege stirring up many memorable stories. at one time i was on board a train when the shelling started i jumped out and fell to the ground and that moment

a shell hit the tram blowing it into pieces i was incredibly lucky i just made it out of the transit time of. trams on the street signaled to people living under siege life went on. police said to each other the tram is running again. this must mean we're still alive despite the blockade. we will live it will survive all of us were confident of victory but another winter came along. and. by the end of nine hundred forty two the germans realised they were unlikely to capture leningrad and stepped up their artillery assault on the besieged city. in january the sunday to a pro through a small.